A major fire broke out in the library building on the Gulbarga University campus in Kalaburagi on Wednesday morning. No injuries were reported. There was no one in the library at the time of the incident.
According to eyewitnesses, at 8.30 a.m., the periodical section – one of the blocks in the library – caught fire. Students and staff noticed smoke emanating from the library and immediately called the Fire Department. Fire and emergency services personnel were at work for more than an hour to put out the blaze.
A number of academic periodicals, including published scholarly journals, articles and magazines, stocked in the block were destroyed. A short circuit may have caused the fire, a source from the Fire Department said. A case has been registered at the Gulbarga University police station.
Meanwhile, the police is analysing footage from CCTVs installed around the library, in which the images of a suspect entering the library on Tuesday midnight have reportedly been captured.
The police have arrested Shivaputrappa Pattedar, who was working as peon at Library Department in the university. The believe he may have set the building on fire after the university authorities refused to reinstate him after being sacked.
